FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional fiber cable assembly 100 for interconnecting a local device 105 to a remote device 110. Fiber cable assembly 100 includes a local electro-optical transceiver 107, a cable 108, and a remote electro-optical transceiver 109. In safety-critical applications, maintaining electrical isolation between local device 105 and remote device 110 is important. As such, fiber optics (e.g., fiber transmit line 115 and fiber receive line 120) are often employed for transmission of the data signals. Fiber optics provide high bandwidth communication between local device 105 and remote device 110, while also providing electrical isolation between local device circuitry 125 and remote device circuitry 130.
In scenarios where the remote device 110 has a limited power budget (e.g., operating on battery power), it is often necessary to power components of remote electro-optical transceiver 109 over cable 108 from local device 105. Conventionally, this has been accomplished by including a conductive, metal power line 135 within cable 108 to deliver the power. However, inclusion of metal power line 135 undermines a total electrical isolation solution provided by fiber transmit line 115 and fiber receive line 120. As such, either a battery inserted into the remote electro-optical transceiver 109 substitutes for the metal power line, or, a bulky surge protector 140 is incorporated into remote electro-optic transceiver 109. Placing a battery in the remote electro-optical transceiver 109 eliminates the metal power line, but adds a degree of battery maintenance. While providing a measure of protection, surge protector 140 does not provide the same level of electrical isolation as fiber transmit line 115 and fiber receive line 120, which are fabricated of dielectric insulating materials (e.g., glass, plastic).